Coronavirus worries?

[Lencoboy]

Also, thinking logically, there seem to be two current school's of thought. The first is that the virus has been spreading (in the US since that's where I am) for much longer than we've realized. If that's the case, it indicates the true mildness of the virus. Hospital admissions for flu like illnesses haven't spiked, and the US monitors those numbers during flu season so it would have been obvious if more people were suddenly seriously ill with a new respiratory illness. The other option is that we've accurately found all or most of the cases which would indicate that the true numbers are very small, even worldwide (90,000+ out of 7.6 billion is statistical nothing). Either way, it bodes well for us.[/QUOTE]

I said pretty much the same thing about the CV situation here in the UK on here yesterday (I think), that there may have already been plenty of festering cases but with the testing centres springing up rapidly around the country over the past week or two it's very likely to be one of the key factors behind the rapid acceleration of confirmed cases within our shores during the same time-period, coupled with the oft-quoted time-lag of approximately 14 days for the virus to fully manifest itself, in the case of victims returning from N. Italy and other seriously affected areas, particularly over the school half-term break in mid-February, just as CV was suddenly starting to hit N. Italy en masse.

As both myself and others have already said before, the press really need to start toning things down in regards to their sensationalism and hype concerning CV, which is allegedly doing almost as much damage as the actual virus itself, perhaps if not more?

Sadly they will probably persist in pushing everything to the max in order to fulfil their underlying agendas (££s)!!

[Pamplemousse]

As both myself and others have already said before, the press really need to start toning things down in regards to their sensationalism and hype concerning CV, which is allegedly doing almost as much damage as the actual virus itself, perhaps if not more?

Sadly they will probably persist in pushing everything to the max in order to fulfil their underlying agendas (££s)!!

Why have I got a rather nice turntable in my mind when I see your username?

Print media is dying; hence it needs to generate 'clicks' to survive, and this is evidenced by many papers running paywalls. One argument used by the press against the BBC used to be "its website damages local papers". Considering most local papers were full of adverts, I'd say it was Gumtree and the Internet that did for them. Why pay 20p a word when Gumtree is much cheaper?

It was used in a very different context during WW2, but the phrase "careless talk costs lives" comes to mind; it certainly messes with the vulnerable/susceptible now. However... one thing has struck me; during a certain recent political event, we were told "we've had enough of experts". Now, we can't get enough of 'em.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hang on, you'll have to show me where I said "...Coronavirus is here in the same numbers as the common flu". Perhaps in your mind I said that, but I can't see where I did so I'd ask you not to go putting words in my mouth.

3% of 85 cases is nothing. Near 10k deaths registered for flu in the UK. Therefore you can only be working off a larger population to overtake those numbers for the mortality rate to be meaningful in the UK.

My point was that we have a lower % mortality rate but such a high level of cases that it dwarfs the other, despite being deadlier as a virus, yet no one is worried about the one that kills more people every year. It's the same made above about driving a car not being a worry to the HAer.

[MyNameIsTerry]

In the first case, yes - the courts take a dim view of subjudice but also some of the more hot-headed commenters may make libellous statements which'd land the paper as publisher in court.

As to the second point - conspiracy theorists will find a conspiracy in anything! (I remember the Lee Rigby case and the nutjobs that unleashed) A woman running for Senator in the US is convinced this virus is engineered by Democrats to kill Republicans. She'd seen a patent for 'coronavirus' without being able to read and understand the text of the patent - that like many vaccines, it's a version of the virus that's been modified to stimulate the body to produce antibodies without it actually causing the disease - like the flu vaccine does... and of course there's a patent, because who patents first makes the money.

Yes, very true. And the thing about politicians is these types of events allow them to attack their rivals or give the impression they are doing something. They can stand up in the Commons and say the equivalent of a post here to up their profile.

[pulisa]

Why have I got a rather nice turntable in my mind when I see your username?

Print media is dying; hence it needs to generate 'clicks' to survive, and this is evidenced by many papers running paywalls. One argument used by the press against the BBC used to be "its website damages local papers". Considering most local papers were full of adverts, I'd say it was Gumtree and the Internet that did for them. Why pay 20p a word when Gumtree is much cheaper?

It was used in a very different context during WW2, but the phrase "careless talk costs lives" comes to mind; it certainly messes with the vulnerable/susceptible now. However... one thing has struck me; during a certain recent political event, we were told "we've had enough of experts". Now, we can't get enough of 'em.

There's always an "expert" wheeled out for everything.. My opinion is that we just need to know the basics-too much information creates panic and unrest as seen on this thread.

[Lencoboy]

Why have I got a rather nice turntable in my mind when I see your username?

Print media is dying; hence it needs to generate 'clicks' to survive, and this is evidenced by many papers running paywalls. One argument used by the press against the BBC used to be "its website damages local papers". Considering most local papers were full of adverts, I'd say it was Gumtree and the Internet that did for them. Why pay 20p a word when Gumtree is much cheaper?

It was used in a very different context during WW2, but the phrase "careless talk costs lives" comes to mind; it certainly messes with the vulnerable/susceptible now. However... one thing has struck me; during a certain recent political event, we were told "we've had enough of experts". Now, we can't get enough of 'em.

I wondered how long it would be before someone on here brought up Lenco turntables re my username!!

For the record (no pun intended), I don't currently own any Lenco-branded devices but my dad owned a Goldring Lenco GL78 turntable when I was very little and replaced it with a Pioneer PL-740 in 1984 when I was 7 years old.

Back on topic, conventional printed newspapers are dying so guess what?
They have to keep upping the ante with their endless scaremongering and hype!!

I wouldn't be seen dead buying one these days, especially the right-leaning ones like The Scum, The Daily Fail and The Daily Depress. Even the more left-leaning ones such as The Daily Mirror and The Guardian sometimes have sensationalist, scaremongering tendencies in their own right. And I say that as a centre-left person myself.

In fact the only printed newspaper I only read these days is our local one, which is a weekly publication that does not over-sensationalise stuff.

[jules321]

I’m feeling triggered as Seattle in the US has now urged those over 60 to stay in their homes and some schools have closed.

[MyNameIsTerry]

There's always an "expert" wheeled out for everything.. My opinion is that we just need to know the basics-too much information creates panic and unrest as seen on this thread.

And many of them are giving opinions. Health can work more on facts but the economy is a different issue and these same people have been just as certain in the past and got it badly wrong. And many of them on any side have their interests to protect due to allegiances.

[PanickyGuy]

I had the swine flu in 2009 and it was no big deal. I missed two days of work. They also thought the death rate was much higher at the time than it ended up being. Another thing about the swine flu is that is disproportionately hit younger people, which is rare. Far fewer people over 60 got swine flu than under, which I would imagine also accounts for it's very low death rate. This virus is hitting the most vulnerable, so naturally the death rate overall will be higher.

Also, thinking logically, there seem to be two current school's of thought. The first is that the virus has been spreading (in the US since that's where I am) for much longer than we've realized. If that's the case, it indicates the true mildness of the virus. Hospital admissions for flu like illnesses haven't spiked, and the US monitors those numbers during flu season so it would have been obvious if more people were suddenly seriously ill with a new respiratory illness. The other option is that we've accurately found all or most of the cases which would indicate that the true numbers are very small, even worldwide (90,000+ out of 7.6 billion is statistical nothing). Either way, it bodes well for us.

Just to add some clarity about that, as I type this only 39,685 are currently infected worldwide by the virus. 90,000+ is the overall number of people they think became infected worldwide so far, since this thing started. 53,983 are the number of people that have recovered from the virus up to date. So the true number of the current infected are even smaller when you look at it that way.

[Lencoboy]

There's always an "expert" wheeled out for everything.. My opinion is that we just need to know the basics-too much information creates panic and unrest as seen on this thread.

Exactly. That's probably one of the main reasons behind the stress epidemic that plagues our society today. Sometimes less is more.